Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 342

Well helloo there everyone! Just in case you all thought we'd disappeared into the ether, we've finally found a computer with t'internet!!! Believe me this is harder than you might think in India...especially as we've been on a bus and tramping round fairly remote villages for the last few days!!! But hey - we got here ok and began our travels in Delhi. Right...so Delhi is the most crowded busy, noisy and filthy place ive ever seen! Its an amzing mixture of ultra modern and almost medieval. It smells of wee though. Everyone just pees in the street. And the hotel stank of mothballs...there were even mothballs in the sink. God knows why... So before we'd even been in Delhi for an hour we'd already been whisked off sightseeing, visiting a hindu temple and sikh gurdwara ... read more

Da da, da daaaa, da dum....This city is where a portion (about the mid-point) of Octupussy (James Bond film) when he chased in a rickshaw through the narrow streets in the city. I know this, because 70% of eating establishments have a 7 pm or 7:30 pm showing of Octupussy. Every night. Nonetheless, it is a very cool city and definitely a favorite, thus far. Though it is hard to determine if our mentally has adjusted because we are becoming 'travelers', becoming used to the Indian style of life and if the cities are truly better. We found a clean new hotel (called Hotel Udai Niwas) with a helpful travel agency on the main floor. Pretty much all the hotels have rooftop restaurants with great views of the river and the Lake Palace hotel (a 5-star ... read more

I finally have figured out how to get some of this writing to the blog (using SD memory card and internet cafe...). Probably read the India parts first, as they are much more interesting than the earlier stuff about London (as India is a bit more different than London, to put it mildly). Part 6 Dec 25 Flying to London It is the least merry of Christmases, even on the one year that Hanukkah falls on the same day. Yesterday we learned the devastating news of the death of one of my best friends and this now darkens our days and nights and makes our travel feel frivolous and all too self centered. (At the same time, I count this time with the kids as all the more precious and maybe the best use of ... read more

So, we left Jodhpur for our longest drive to Udaipur. However, we noticed a couple of places of interest on the way. Boy were they worth the stop. Firstly was the Jain temple at Ranakpur. Wow what a place. Built in the 14th century, it was a temple built entirely of marble, and not a square centimeter was not covered with the most amazing carvings. 144 columns - all totally different. We all said it was the best temple yet. Then we drove across the most fabulous Rajasthan high country, through tranquil fields and amazing little villages - and colour colour colour everywhere. Spot Steve on the 1000 year old yak driven water pump. This road got us to Kumbhalgarh Fort which is the second most important citadel after Chittorgarh. The fort also offers a superb ... read more

Long time no see... Hello everybody, as you can guess we are right now in India, to be precise in Varanasi. Before we were in Bodhgaya and Puri. So I'll tell you abit about them. Puri is a very small town, around 79.000 people which to Indian standards is ridiculously small. It is very laid back and our hotel room is amazingly spotless, I think I could have stayed there for a long time, food was great!!! the only inconvinience were the rickshaw men who are completely stoned pestering us. I mean, COME ON, Man!! Do you really think that I am going to get a ride on your rickshaw or even worse auto rickshaw with those huge red eyeballs, really? Well to be honest we did. We decided to go to a Dance Festival and ... read more